December 31, 2010
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Netanyahu: Conflict continues due to refusal to accept Israel – Herb Keinon – www.jpost.com
Netanyahu says countries perceive Israel as “guilty until it proves otherwise;” Israel must "delegitimize the delegitimizers."
The root of the Israeli-Arab conflict is not Israel’s presence in the settlements, but rather its presence in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Thursday.
Netanyahu, speaking at the Foreign Ministry’s annual meeting of the country’s ambassadors and consul generals in Jerusalem, said that “peace cannot be based on lies. This conflict continues because there is a refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and bring an end to the conflict.”
Peace, Netanyahu said, will require the Palestinians to “give up their right of return, because it is impossible to have a Jewish state and in parallel to flood it with Palestinian refugees.”
Speaking at the same forum where five days earlier Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that the current PA government was illegitimate and that the Israeli government had too many “coalition contradictions” to present a clear diplomatic program, Netanyahu said his government “seeks peace.”
“This is the target and the goal,” he said, saying that the Palestinians were the ones unwilling to negotiate. Israel, he said, was ready last month to accede to a US request for an additional three-month settlement freeze, but that Washington concluded that this would not help the negotiations, because the PA would continue demanding more moratoriums when that one had expired.
Many countries in the world, Netanyahu said, perceive Israel as “guilty until it proves otherwise.”
He said Israel would “use all the resources at its disposal” to go on the offensive, fight the delegitimization campaign, and “delegitimize the delegitimizers.”
The prime minister said that another pillar of any future peace agreement, alongside the recognition of Israel’s legitimacy, was security arrangements on the ground. The IDF is the only force, he said, that could ensure that if Israel pulled out of the West Bank, Iran would not walk in, as happened when Israel withdrew from Gaza and left the 14 kilometer Philadelphia corridor between Gaza and Egypt.
Regarding Iran, Netanyahu said that the current US-led sanctions regime was having an impact, but that the only way to stop Iran’s nuclear march was through harsh sanctions “combined with a credible military option.”
“All countries are worried about Iran,” Netanyahu said, “and the stronger it gets, the more difficult it will be to achieve peace.”
In a related development, National Security Council head Uzi Arad – who went to Egypt earlier this week to prepare for Netanyahu’s visit there next week – travelled to Jordan Thursday for high level meetings dealing with the current diplomatic process.
Palestinian leader wants US backing in UN proposal – www.news.yahoo.com
JERUSALEM – The Palestinian president said a new attempt by the Palestinians to get the United Nations to condemn Israeli settlements was specifically designed to win U.S. support.
As part of a new emphasis on winning international support for their cause, the Palestinians have drafted a proposal and are lobbying for a Security Council resolution that would declare West Bank settlements illegal and an "obstacle to peace."
The U.S. has said it doesn't support the move, but it remains unclear if it will veto the measure or abstain should the draft come to a vote. Israel says it is an attempt by the Palestinians to avoid negotiations.
Speaking on Thursday to Palestinian expatriates and Arab ambassadors in Brazilia, Brazil, President Mahmoud Abbas said the Palestinian draft used language similar to that used by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has criticized settlements.
"We drafted it using the same words that Secretary Clinton is using and so we don't see why the U.S. would veto it," Abbas said.
Brazil, along with several other South American countries, recently recognized the yet-nonexistent state of Palestine.
With peace talks at an impasse, the Palestinians are increasingly trying to win international recognition of their state, which they hope will put bring more pressure to bear on Israel.
Hamas stages Israeli attack to recall Gaza war – www.news.yahoo.com
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Hamas rulers have staged a mock attack by Israel to commemorate Israel's 2008 Gaza offensive.
The re-enactment included loud booms, clouds of smoke, fake blood and rubble. Only the rubble was real.
About 40 actors put on the show Thursday at an apartment tower heavily damaged in the war.
Booms inside the building were followed by plumes of smoke and children's screams. Medics rushed to evacuate children covered in red paint. A car burned nearby.
About 200 people watched.
Some 1,400 Gazans and 13 Israelis were killed in the war, which Israel launched two years ago to stop rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in Gaza.
Hamas official Ashraf Abu Daya said the show sought to "remind the world of the agony of the Gaza war" and the suffering that followed.
Hizbullah and the information war - By Caroline B. Glick
What Hizbullah knows and many in the West still don't
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | On January 15 the UN's Special Tribunal for Lebanon is scheduled to issue indictments against a number of Hizbullah operatives for the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005. All of Lebanon and much of the region is waiting in suspense that grows with each passing day.
The news that Hizbullah would be fingered by the prosecutors was first made public in July. Since then, Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah has threatened repeatedly to set fire to Lebanon and perhaps Israel if Daniel Bellemare, the chief prosecutor dares to go forward. Given Hizbullah's track record of war, murder and intimidation, no one doubts that the Iranian-proxy force will keep its promise if it comes to that.
Almost immediately after Hizbullah was named as the central suspect in Hariri's assassination, Hizbullah's ally Syria began negotiating a deal with Saudi Arabia, which serves as the patron of Lebanon's Sunni community. The goal of these talks is to get Hizbullah off the hook, "in order to preserve stability."
Bellemare made clear this week that he will not be influenced by politics in dispatching his duties to the law. If he is true to his word, then Hizbullah members will certainly be indicted for assassinating Hariri next month.
What this means is that the most attractive option for Hizbullah and its allies right now is to discredit the tribunal. To this end, Hizbullah has repeatedly characterized the UN tribunal as an Israeli and American plot. Syria has insisted that the Lebanese who testified before the tribunal gave false testimony.
While these allegations may have convinced their supporters, both Syria and Hizbullah know that the only effective way to discredit the tribunal is to coerce Hariri's son, Prime Minister Saad Hariri to disavow the tribunal and withdraw Lebanese governmental support for its proceedings.
While such a move would probably have little impact on the tribunal's ultimate judgment, it might reduce the political impact of the indictments for Hizbullah in Lebanon.
And so according to Ha'aretz, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and Saudi King Abdullah reached a deal in which Hariri Jr. will disavow the tribunal. In exchange, Hizbullah will agree not to murder him.
Hizbullah has not surprisingly announced its support for the deal. Hariri has given a series of contradictory statements that lend to the sense that he is trying to run down the clock. This week he met with Abdullah in New York where the Saudi despot is undergoing medical treatment. On Wednesday he travelled to Saudi Arabia for further talks.
In the meantime, just to underline its willingness to make good on its threats, last week Hizbullah had its affiliated trade union, the National Union for Labor Syndicates stage a protest against the government. As Hanin Ghadar at the NOW Lebanon news portal noted, in the days leading up to the terror group's coup in May 2008, it had its labor affiliates stage similar protests.
And that brings us to the basic question of why is Hizbullah taking the tribunal so seriously? What does it care if its members are indicted for murdering Hariri? This is a terror group that has always been perfectly willing to kill in order to get its way. And everyone knows it.
Hizbullah operatives killed Hariri because he was irritating Nasrallah and Assad with all his talk about Lebanese sovereignty. Then they killed parliamentarian after parliamentarian to deny Hariri Jr.'s parliamentary majority the power to form a government or do anything else without Hizbullah agreement. When even that was insufficient to force the government to slavishly do its bidding, Hizbullah carried out its bloody coup in May 2008 in order to take over effective control of the government and the Lebanese army. So too, after the June 2009 elections, Hizbullah coerced members of Hariri's coalition to change sides and so prevented him from forming a coalition without Hizbullah receiving veto power over all government decisions.
And even if Hizbullah did care about what its fellow Lebanese think of it, the fact is that Hizbullah is not an independent actor. It is an Iranian proxy. And the Iranians have made clear that they do not care what the tribunal does. Iran's supreme dictator Ali Khamenei announced earlier this month that as far as Iran is concerned, the tribunal's judgments are null and void. In his words, "This court is a kangaroo court and every verdict it issues is rejected."
So again, why is Hizbullah so concerned about this tribunal?
Hizbullah is concerned because Hizbullah understands the power of symbols. No, its operatives will probably never be jailed for their crimes. But the tribunal is a symbol. If Bellmare dares to defy Hizbullah, then others might consider doing so.
On the other hand if Hizbullah is able to coerce Hariri to withdraw the Lebanese government's support for the tribunal and disavow its work, it will have demonstrated its strength and authority in a way that will deter others from challenging it.
Hizbullah's response to the specter of the Special Tribunal is not only interesting for what it tells us about prospects for Lebanon's future and for regional stability and peace. Hizbullah's response to the threat that its members will be exposed as Hariri's assassins teaches us interesting lessons about the nature of information warfare.
Information warfare is not simply a question of competing narratives, as it is often characterized in the West. Information war is a form of warfare whose aim is to use words, symbols and images to force people to take real action. These actions can involve everything from war to terrorism to surrender.
In closed societies, information warfare is used to cause people to rally around the side of the group conducting the information operation and to mobilize supporters to act against the chosen enemy. For instance, when its leadership is interested in inspiring terror attacks against Israel, the Palestinian Authority broadcasts around the clock incitement against Israel.
On May 8, 2001a group of Palestinians from a village adjacent to the Israeli community of Tekoa in Gush Etzion got their hands on two Jewish children Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran from Tekoa. The two boys were bludgeoned to death with stones. The details of the butchery are unspeakable.
The question is what can make human beings butcher children? How can a person hurt a child the way that their killers hurt them?
The answer is Palestinian television.
In the weeks before the murder, PATV (funded by foreign donors) broadcast doctored footage around the clock of what they claimed were atrocities carried out by Israel. They showed doctored images of mutilated corpses and claimed that Israel had mutilated and abused them. Israel and Jews were so demonized by these false images that after awhile, the Palestinians watching these shows believed that Jews, including Jewish children, were all monsters who must be destroyed and made to pay for their imaginary crimes.
This was an act of information warfare that in the event, led Palestinians to butcher Koby Mandell and Yosef Ishran.
As for information warfare aimed at Westerners, here too, the Palestinian Authority, like Hizbullah has a long track record of success. Journalists know that the PA has no compunction about kidnapping, arresting and beating up reporters. They do it to Palestinian reporters routinely. With their sure knowledge, Western reporters who come in to the PA recognize that if they want to be safe, they have to report stories that will make the PA happy.
For instance, after a television crew from Italy's Mediaset network broadcast footage of the PA police-supported lynch mob murdering and dismembering IDF reservists Vadim Nozhitz and Yosef Avrahami in Ramallah in October 2000, Ricardo Cristiani, deputy chief of Italy's RAI television network's Jerusalem bureau published an apology in the PA's newspaper Al Hayat al Jadida.
Among other things, Cristiani wrote, "We [RAI] emphasize to all of you that the events did not happen this way, because we always respect (will continue to respect) the journalistic procedures with the Palestinian Authority for (journalistic) work in Palestine and we are credible in our precise work."
Fearing Palestinian revenge attacks, Mediaset was forced to shut down its offices. This week, Swedish and Danish police announced the arrest of four Muslim terrorists who were en route to carrying out a massacre at the Jyllands Posten newspaper. The attack was supposed to avenge the newspaper's publication of cartoons of Muhammed in 2005.
A US diplomatic cable leaked by WikiLeaks and published Monday by Sweden's Aftonbladet newspaper reported that Syria's Assad himself directed the information operation in 2006 that led to rioting against Denmark and Jyllands Posten throughout the Muslim world in 2006. Assad reportedly ordered Syria's Grand Mufti to incite his fellow imams to attack Denmark for publishing the pictures.
The Arab world's response to WikiLeaks shows just how powerful the incitement against Israel and Jews on the Arab psyche is. According to Hazem Saghiyah from the NOW Lebanon news portal, the Arab world was beset by confusion because Israel was not exposed as demonic by the WikiLeaks documents.
As Saghiyeh put it, for Arabs who have come to believe that Israel controls the world through its satanic power, "these documents should have provided the decisive argument" against Israel.
The fact that it is the Arab leadership, rather than Israel that has been exposed as lying and two-faced, makes the Arab world writ large view the WikiLeaks operation as a huge Zionist conspiracy.
What all of this shows is that information wars are not just about getting out the facts. Like kinetic warfare, they involve power plays, intimidation and the use of subconscious and visceral manipulation.
Israel has recently awoken to one aspect of information warfare. It has recognized the consequences of years of demonization of Israel in Europe and international organizations. But Israel has yet to awaken to the fact that it is a type of warfare and has to be countered with counter-information warfare.
Obviously this doesn't mean that Israel should begin acting like its enemies. But what it does mean is that Israel must begin using more hard-knuckle techniques to defend itself. It must begin targeting people's emotions as well has their minds.
For instance, when Israel is confronted by threats of lawsuits for acts of self-defense, it responds with defense attorneys. When the US was threatened with lawfare by Belgian courts, then secretary of defense Donald Rumsfeld responded by threatening to remove NATO headquarters from Belgium.
When Israel is accused of targeting Palestinian civilians, it responds by attaching legal advisors to combat units. What it should be doing instead is providing film footage of Palestinian children being trained as terrorists and exploited as human shields.
War is a dirty business. Information warfare is a dirty form of war. And if we don't want to lose, we'd better start fighting.
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Chinese military aircraft more aggressive since September, Japan claims – Julian Ryall – www.telegraph.co.uk
Chinese military aircraft have become more aggressive in confrontations with Japanese aircraft operating over the East China Sea, since a collision between a Chinese trawler and Japanese Coast Guard vessel in September.
Defense officials in Tokyo told the Asahi newspaper that in addition to the harassment of Japanese aircraft, China has stepped up its probing of air defenses in the region and the monitoring of military exercises involving units from the United States and Japan.
In the last nine months, Japanese fighters have been scrambled to intercept Chinese intruders on 44 occasions, the highest figure in the last five years and more than double the number for the whole of fiscal 2006, the defense ministry officials said.
In another deviation from their previous behavior, the Chinese aircraft are not turning home as soon as they realize they have been detected but are continuing on their courses until they make visual contact with Japanese interceptors.
Chinese reconnaissance aircraft are also increasingly entering Japan's Air Defense Identification Zone. Although this is not a breach of territorial airspace, it does inevitably lead to interceptors being scrambled.
The ministry officials said that prior to the incident off the Senkaku Islands – which Japan controls but both Taiwan and China claim as their sovereign territory – Chinese fighters and reconnaissance aircraft had avoided entering Japan's ADIZ.
In October, a Chinese Navy JH-7 fighter-bomber reportedly breached the ADIZ and came close enough to a Japanese fighter to make a visual identification.
During the "Keen Sword" military exercises in early December, F-15 fighters based in Okinawa were scrambled to meet an unidentified aircraft approaching the ADIZ. Japanese pilots confirmed that the aircraft was a Chinese Navy Y-8X maritime patrol aircraft.
There is growing concern in Japan at Beijing's increased spending on its military, particularly its navy and air force, as it looks to project its influence further into the Pacific and south-east Asia.
Those rising food prices — here, there, worldwide – Sol Sanders – www.worldtribune.com
Brace yourself: the neo-Malthusians will soon be in full cry, warning the population is outrunning the world’s food supply. Like Washington dealing with China, there’s no cool approach: either experts tell us we are drowning in surpluses, or humanitarians warn eminent starvation awaits because of diminishing cultivable land, water shortages, unsustainable/unhealthful hybrids, or “peak oil” eliminating cheap petrochemical fertilizers.
Whatever long-term arguments, it’s clear that rather suddenly, rising food prices based on short-term shortages, have become political dynamite. And fiscal policies — “quantative easing” as the Fed calls it, printing money for the rest of us — have exacerbated the problem by detouring investors and speculators into bidding up commodities, not least food.
You don’t have to be an economic determinist to see geopolitical results:
Mexico, facing near chaos in its effort to control narcoterrorism, last week dived into corn futures. It’s no secret other countries — China, if sneakily — have bought grain futures to assure an adequate supply. But that Mexico announced it was obviously an effort to add propaganda to its insurance against the possibility of a “tortilla crisis”, which almost totaled earlier administrations when corn shortages for that basic Mexican foodstuff pushed inflationary price levels.
India, whose fragile coalition government under that old planner turned marketaraian, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, under fire for a series of mega-trillion-rupee financial scandals, now faces rising food prices — and an onion shortage! Mumbai’s roaring markets continue producing near double-digit gross domestic product [GDP] growth. But on Indian development’s dark side is 600,000 villages — many of them hardly monetized — still facing food insufficiency. Eleven out of 19 states have more than 80 percent anemia with children under five suffering stunting and brain damage.
China, too, has had to turn away from its monomania for creating jobs. One high official [if now retiring] has written what the rest of us knew: among other follies, municipalities just dig holes and fill them in to boost their “required” GDP contribution. Beijing acknowledges an inflationary spiral may be taking hold, led by food prices. And no one remembers inflation’s threat to past regimes as vividly as Chinese officials [and the Germans]. China has been forced to draw down food reserves. Beijing planners’ dilemma is opening up food imports — perhaps by unleashing the undervalued yuan — would help solve the problem. But having starved the agricultural sector of resources, freeing imports would bring disaster to remaining impoverished farmers. [Their Japanese neighbor spends 5 trillion yen — $63 billion — annually to stockpile over 2 million tons of domestic rice with a 778 percent blocking import tariff; it’s unlikely a new “rice bread” will help with consumption dropped by half over the last 40 years.]
Then there is North Korea [with its miniscule pampered elite] diverting resources to the military. Whatever else Pyongyang’s rambunctious actions are intended to achieve, renewing a magnanimous South Korean, Japanese and American food dole would be part of any bargain — assuming one is possible — to halt their weapons of mass destruction production. Meanwhile, after famine starved more than a million people in the 90s, more than six million of North Korea’s 23 million now exist at near starvation.
Nearer home, any American housewife [or her househusband] will tell you food prices are rising. It’s true most Americans can — if they would avoid obesity — eat better than ever. [My rural Virginia Walmart has everything from Kosher salami to Greek phyllo and I count on their fabled inventory control to know they can sell it along with questionable Chinese frozen fish.] But with no “banana war” between the EU and Central American exporters, our local prices went from 32 cents to 42 cents over the summer. Is rising food prices a harbinger of incipient inflation from gigantic “stimulus” outlays – continued in the Lame Duck Congress despite the cautions of Nov. 2 elections?
Nor is there sweetness and light on the supply side. Wheat prices on the Chicago grain market advanced 47 percent this year. That’s because Russian drought spurred the Kremlin to banned exports. Ukraine is dragging its feet with grain export quotas. Weather in Argentina whittled down the corn crop [world’s No. 2 exporter] and soybeans [world’s No. 3 exporter]. Australian wheat production will be half normal because of rains and floods. Market trackers say it’s too early to call but predict an allover “mixed” harvest in the 2011-12 cereal season but guestimates already are affecting 2010-2011 prices.
Insane food subsidy politics, of course, continue. Nothing is as idiotic as the U.S. effort to supplement fossil fuel with ethanol, alcohol from corn. Imports rise, of course, because Washington slaps new restrictions on drilling. But one year’s ethanol for the average American car requires 11 acres of farmland, otherwise feeding seven people. Adding injury to insult, some of the new hypereconomical engines reject ethanol as an inadequate fuel. Yet Washington subsidizes ethanol including exports to Europe while maintaining high tariffs against Brazil’s subsidized bagasse [sugar cane byproduct] ethanol imports.
Food problems, like death and taxes, apparently will always be with us — but at times contributing mightily to existing problems.
2010 in Review – www.khouse.org
January:
January 12 - A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Haiti. During the next 12 days at least 52 aftershocks were recorded measuring 4.5 or greater. An estimated 230,000 people were killed and another million were made homeless. It was one of the deadliest earthquakes in recorded history.
February:
February 8 - The Boy Scouts of America celebrated its one-hundredth anniversary.
March:
March 20 - The Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull began to erupt in the form of a fissure vent in the high neck between Eyjafjallajökull and the neighboring icecap, Mýrdalsjökull.
April:
April 10 - Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and 94 others perished in a plane crash near Smolensk-North Airport in Russia. There were no survivors.
April 14 - Eyjafjallajökull resumed erupting after a brief pause, causing the closure of airspace over parts of Europe on several days in April and May as volcanic ash in the atmosphere made air travel dangerous.
April 14 – A 6.9 magnitude earthquake hit Yushu, Qinghai, China, killing 2,700 people.
April 20 - The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, starting the largest marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry. Eleven men were killed in the explosion and 17 others were injured. Crude oil began to gush unimpeded into the Gulf.
May:
May 1-2 – Torrential rains caused 1000-year floods in middle and western Tennessee, southern Kentucky and northern Mississippi. In Nashville, the Cumberland River crested at 51.86 feet, it's highest since 1937. The flooding broke all-time records in several places along the Cumberland River, Duck River, Buffalo River, Red River and Harpeth River.
May 11 – David Cameron was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, at age 43 becoming the youngest British Prime Minister in 200 years. His Ministry is the UK's first coalition government since WWII.
May 31 - Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) commandos raided and seized the MV Mavi Marmara in international waters after warning the Turkish flotilla that they were enforcing a naval blockade of the Gaza area. Nine activists and seven IDF soldiers were killed in the clashes that followed.
June:
June 7 - Long-time White House Press Corps member and columnist Helen Thomas retired following the negative reaction she received after saying on May 27 that the Jews should get out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany. She was 89-years-old.
July:
July 2 – The FAA officially approved a car, the Terrafugia Transition, that can be converted into an airplane in less than a minute.
July 11 - A total eclipse of the sun occurred over the southern Pacific Ocean.
July 15 - The Deepwater Horizon gushing wellhead was finally capped, stopping the leak. The disaster had released about 205.8 million gallons of crude oil into the ocean over the course of three months.
Throughout July - Flooding suffocated Pakistan so that, at one point, one fifth of Pakistan's total land was underwater. The floods directly affected close to 20 million people, with almost 2000 deaths reported.
August:
August 5 - A cave-in at the San José copper-gold mine near Copiapó, Chile trapped 33 men 2,300 feet below ground. The men would remain there for over two months.
August 7 - Elena Kagan began to serve as the US Supreme Court's 112th justice. She is the fourth female and eighth Jewish justice.
August 10 - The World Health Organization declared the swine flu pandemic over.
August 17 – All but one of 131 passengers aboard a "miracle" Colombian jet escaped death when their plane crash-landed on the Caribbean island of San Andres. The Boeing 737 split into three sections, but its engines shut down on impact and its fuselage did not catch fire. Only one woman died - of a heart attack on her way to the hospital.
August 21 – Iran held an official ceremony to launch the loading of fuel cells at the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant near the Persian Gulf.
September:
September 19 - Moms International succeeded in kicking off the first annual Bless Our Schools Sunday, to remind churches of the importance of praying for their local schools.
September 28 - The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to permanently lift the injunction against federally funded embryonic stem-cell research and allow the National Institutes of Health to continue the controversial research.
October:
October 13- Every one of the trapped 33 Chilean miners were successfully rescued after a record 69 days underground. According to estimates, more than 1 billion people around the world watched the rescue live.
October 26 - Iran announced it was finally loading its controversial Bushehr nuclear reactor (for real). If all goes as planned, the 1000-megawatt nuclear plant will start producing energy by early 2011.
November:
November 15 - NASA announced that astronomers using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory had found evidence that a supernova discovered in 1979 had indeed developed into a black hole. It offered scientists the opportunity to watch a black hole develop from "infancy."
December:
December 20 – A total lunar eclipse hung blood-red in the black sky on the darkest night of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. It had been 372 years since a total eclipse of the moon coincided with the winter solstice.
Between earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, floods, and one particularly unpleasant oil rig explosion, there were certainly a number of tragedies in 2010. Yet, some precious miracles took places as well. The freeing of the 33 Chilean miners, or the Colombian airplane that split into three parts without a single person dying in the crash, offer tremendous pictures of mercy this past year. May 2011 do so even more.
Welcome 2011!!
If Christians Were Treated Like Muslims - by Gary Bauer – www.humanevents.com
Few Americans would deny that Judeo-Christian beliefs and values informed the Founding of this country and that they continue to shape much of American life today. Nor would many of us deny that Americans who embrace Islamic values are a distinct minority here.
I raise these two facts because of an emerging reality: that, in a variety of contexts, American Muslims are treated better than American Christians. That might seem like a bizarre assertion, so think about it in another way: What if the Christians were treated like Muslims in America, and Muslims like Christians?
If Muslims were treated like Christians in America, Muslims would have to tolerate the defamation of their holiest images in our national museums, acts which would be called "artwork" -- and, if particularly provocative, even given taxpayer-funded grants from the National Endowment for the Arts. They would also have to accept Korans being burned and thrown into toilets, which instead of inciting worldwide outrage and retribution would provoke a collective shrug of the shoulders.
If Muslims were treated like Christians, Muslims would be mocked by late night TV talk show hosts and lampooned in crude cartoon parodies. If Christians were treated like Muslims, conspicuous Christianity would be celebrated by our elites as a sign of our diversity and open-mindedness, not disparaged as an embarrassment, a nuisance and a breach of the law.
If Christianity were treated like Islam, our students would be taught a white-washed version of Christian history, with the troubling bits miscast or omitted from textbooks and lesson plans.
If Christianity were treated like Islam, if an evangelical Christian committed an evil act in the name of his faith, he would be portrayed in the media as a deviation from, not a personification of, the Gospel message. Meanwhile, our political and media elites would hasten to assure the public that evangelical Christianity is a religion of peace and that the vast majority of evangelical Christians do not support terrorism.
If Christianity were treated like Islam in America, our president, a professed Christian, would proudly attend Christian-themed dinners and events while skipping Ramadan dinners, not vice versa. And Muslim politicians would go out of their way to assure people that their faith would not affect their policy-making.
If Christianity were treated like Islam, Christmas and Easter would be publicly celebrated for what they are — the signature events of Christianity, marking the birth and the death and Resurrection of Christ — not stripped of all their theological meaning and transformed into secular holidays devoted to crass consumerism.
If Christians were treated like Muslims, NASA would be tasked with reaching out to Christians and recognizing their faith's profound achievements and contributions to science, math and engineering, instead of being told to make Muslims feel good about their rather meager scientific accomplishments.
If Christians were treated like Muslims, the Catholic Church's stances on sex, contraception and human life would be revered as welcome departures from our over-sexed, self-obsessed culture, not condemned as a cause of disease and death in the less-developed world. And if Muslims were treated like Christians, the application of Sharia law around the world would be met not with stony silence but with the outrage it deserves.
If Christians were treated like Muslims in America, amusement parks would celebrate "Christian Family Day," (Six Flags recently celebrated "Muslim Family Day"), and Christians would be asked to embrace, not set aside, their religious convictions at the door when they entered the public square. Meanwhile, Muslim imams, not Christian pastors, would fear hate crimes lawsuits for preaching orthodox views of sexuality and sin.
The notion that American Muslims face discrimination, even to the point of violence, is often posited by America's elites. But that idea evaporates under scrutiny. Remarkably few hate crimes are reported against Muslims (fewer than one-eighth those against Jews). What's more, Muslim immigration to America has risen sharply since September 11, 2001, and Muslims thrive, economically and educationally, once they arrive.
In fact, it is Christians, not Muslims, who increasingly encounter cultural elites who are hostile to their beliefs and values.
Sadly, Christians will never be treated like Muslims by America's elites. Why? Because Christianity can be attacked without fear of retribution. The Christian response to insult and attack -- "to turn the other cheek" -- contradicts the knee-jerk call to violence of many Islamists.
It's also because left-wing elites and radical Islamists are united in the common cause of upending the Judeo-Christian culture and roots of American society.
I’m not in favor of burning the Koran, and I don’t think insulting or defaming symbols of any religion constitutes art. At a time of the year when intolerance for public displays of Christianity is most acute, it is my Christmas wish that Muslims and Christians would be treated equally.
This week on 'The Hal Lindsey Report' – Hal Lindsey – www.hallindsey.com
I trust you had a blessed Christmas. Even in times of economic difficulty and stress, God's blessings are still evident all around us. We Americans, especially, are beneficiaries of His kindness and generosity. Let's not forget that all year long.
On this week's edition of "The Hal Lindsey Report," I'll discuss 'The Modern Lie.' Hitler's philosophy was that if you told a big enough lie (one that rational folks wouldn't be foolish enough to devise) and you repeated it often enough, the people would begin to believe it as truth. We're seeing exactly that strategy at work in the world today. In fact, the conflict that most threatens world peace is predicated on an enormous lie. The mainstream media, the Leftists, and many governments of the world are either falling prey to the lie or actively perpetuating it. Either way, the conflict it fosters is equally deadly. More ominously, 'The Modern Lie' is rooted in and animated by 'The Everlasting Hatred.'
As we watch our government methodically distance itself from our longtime ally, Israel; as we watch it cozy up to the regimes that are threatening to annihilate the Jewish state; as we watch our President try to strongarm the Israelis into national suicide, we have to ask, "How can we be so blind to reality?" I'll try to answer that question on this week's "Report."
I want to thank all of you who have faithfully supported "The Hal Lindsey Report" during 2010 with prayer or your financial gifts or both. I know that times are tough all over, but God has never let us down. He has continued to supply this ministry with the resources to pursue this mission to which He's called me. And He's done it through your generosity and faithfulness. I am both humbled and grateful to God and to you.
So thank you once again from the depths of my heart. My prayer is that God will bless you and your family beyond your wildest expectations in 2011.
Have a wonderful New Year!
Don't miss this week's Report on TBN, Daystar, Inspiration, CPM Network, various local stations, www.hallindsey.com or www.hischannel.com
If Vick Should Be Executed for Killing Dogs, What about the Abortionists? – Bill Wilson – www.dailyjot.com
On December 28, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, filling in for Sean Hannity, had the following to say about the man in the White House calling the owner of the Philadelphia Eagles to express his gratitude that the team gave convicted felon Michael Vick a second chance: "I'm a Christian, I've made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances. But Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did it in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should've been executed for that. He wasn't, but the idea that the President of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs? Kind of beyond the pale."
Its a good thing for the president to call Jeffrey Lurie and commend him for giving Vick a second chance. One might question, however, the sincerity of it since it was made public, giving it the appearance of being done for political gain. Vick, as you may be aware, was convicted for the federal offense of dog fighting and served 18 months in jail. Since the call, the White House has reminded everyone that what Vick did--conducting an illegal dogfighting ring, killing and torturing animals, and lying to investigators--was condemnable, not commendable. Its not below a politician to pander to both sides of a controversial issue, and this is no exception.
But I digress. The Michael Vick story, still in the making, is one of redemption. While all those involved are cautiously optimistic, it currently appears that Vick has turned the corner from his horrible past--there may be bumps in the road ahead, but right now, its good. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and his team saw something in Vick that prompted them to do the right thing--help the young man recover from himself. Eagles Coach Andy Reid, who has wayward sons of his own, was the right coach for Vick. Strong Christian and Super Bowl Coach Tony Dungy was the right mentor for Vick. And Philadelphia fans, some of the toughest in the world, were the right fans to hold Vick accountable. Its a redemptive story.
Tucker Carlson prefacing his remarks with saying he is a Christian and then calling for the execution of Michael Vick is an example of what is wrong with Christianity today. Carlson can't possibly mean what he says and fully understand what it means to be a Christian. When Peter asked how many times to forgive his brother for sinning against him, Jesus said in Matthew 18:22, "I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven." And we are a forgiving people. What I think, as Carlson put it, "kind of beyond the pale" is that people get so worked up over a man's inhumanity to animals, but they allow or fervently support the legalized killing of the pre-born. Its all about perspective, I guess.
Bad for Business? – Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org
The whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region.
— Matthew 8:34
You would think that after the miracle of casting out demons from two men who had violently oppressed them, the people in the area would have said, "Jesus, You are the man! We love what you did! Now we can go back to the cemetery and pay our respects to our loved ones and put flowers on their graves. We wouldn't even go near there before. These guys were scary. Thank you, Lord, for coming to our community." But that is not what happened. Instead, they wanted Him to go away. Why? It was because Jesus was bad for business.
Jesus had cast the demons out of the men and into a herd of swine that went over a cliff. I don't know if those who kept the herd were Jewish, because if they were, this was not a kosher thing to be doing. They had been making money off the pigs, and there was no more bringing home the bacon for them. It was the end of that story. So they thought, We don't like this. This is bad for our economy. Go away.
For some people, Jesus is bad for their business. It is typically the kind of business that preys on human suffering—even contributes to it. And if you have discovered that Jesus is bad for your business, then you need to get another job.
In the region of the Gadarenes, the people realized that Jesus wasn't good for what they did, and therefore, they wanted Him to go away. Matthew's Gospel tells us, "The whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to depart from their region" (Matthew 8:34). So guess what Jesus did? He left.
Jesus won't force His way into anyone's life, including yours. Have you invited Him in?
As 2010 comes to a close and you consider your year-end giving plans, can I invite you to include Prophecy Update in those plans? The last few days of the year are a critical time, as we seek to finish the year in the black financially—with all of our ministry expenses from this year met. Your year-end gift, no matter the size, will help to meet this last challenge of 2010.
Prophecy Update like many ministries depends greatly on the support generated from Christmas and year in giving. We are in the process of upgrading much of our media software and hardware to take advantage of and keep up with the latest advances in technology and social media communication. The software and hardware as you know, is not cheap but it is a necessity and a worthwhile investment especially when it involves saving souls and keeping the world informed.
We are continuing to expand the media ministry; all the DVD's have been uploaded to watch for free on YouTube so that no one may be denied access to these life changing movies. In the first month we have had nearly 10,000 views from all over the world!
A few comments left by viewers:
Your work is Amazing, Be blessed and shower blessings to the needy always in this hour obscured by cloud of th Darkside. God Bless you always. Baruch Atah Adonai Elohinu Malech Ha olam. Baruch Atah Adonai Yeshua Ha Mesiach Ben Elohim Elohi Israyil. Amen.
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Thank you for what you are doing. The Bible says, in Hosea 4:6 God says, "my people perish for lack of knowledge" and thanks to your ministry we cannot say we don't know what is going on. Now we do and we will. Bless you for your work in the Lord.
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Your presentations are a great encouragement in these increasingly dark times. I tell people that political solutions are futile, that only those who have given their lives to Jesus can have any hope.
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“Folks, it's all beginning to unravel. America is in more danger of falling than at any time in its history. But I believe Bible prophecy predicts this very decline. From this point on, we believers have to get serious. We are going to face discouragement, disillusionment and, most certainly, persecution in the time between now and the Rapture. But don't be discouraged or disillusioned. The coming turmoil will provide us unrivaled opportunities to share the good news of the Gospel. So be ready to share your faith and your hope with those who need Christ. We still have time to reap a great harvest of souls for God's kingdom!” – Hal Lindsey
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Laodicea Revisited - Ron Graham - twotug@embarqmail.com
“And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” Revelation 3:7-8.
Seven letters dictated by Jesus Christ Himself, and written and distributed to those seven churches by His most beloved Apostle, John, were to both commend and admonish those churches in those days. The churches, in the order they are addressed, lay out a history of the Christian church throughout the past two thousand years. The last church Jesus addresses is the Last Day’s church of planet earth.
The church of Philadelphia was singled out by Christ as being the most faithful of all seven churches. Ask anyone in any church congregation which of the seven churches in the book of Revelation does their church most closely resemble and without hesitation they’ll tell you their church most resembles the church in Philadelphia. Actually today’s church has very little, if anything at all, in common with the Philadelphian church. But there is a church where the resemblance between it and a huge number of the Protestant churches of today is uncanny.
The church I’m referring to above is of course, the church of Laodicea. No true born again believer in Christ wants to be branded with the title “Laodicean”. It’s sad, but whether they appreciate that designation or not that is precisely where most protestant churches are today – well established and fully at peace in this, the most apostate category of Christian churches imaginable.
Perhaps some of you will need a short refresher course as to just what was so bad about the church at Laodicea. As I said before, Jesus had just confronted six other churches. Some with praise and others He rebuked, and some were both praised and rebuked. But when we read His letter to the Laodiceans we notice a huge change in His demeanor.
“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:14-16. First of all our Lord explains just who is addressing them, in this case “the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God”. Jesus refers to Himself by various titles and with each one Jesus is unquestionably referring to Himself as God Almighty. These things saith the Amen: Jesus is the Amen, the “so be it,” the “it is done.” Jesus is “the personification and the affirmation of the truth of God.” Jesus is the Faithful and True Witness, and this is a contrast to the Laodiceans, who will be shown to be neither faithful nor true. Jesus is the beginning of the creation of God. The idea behind the word for beginning – the ancient Greek word “arche” – is that of a “ruler, source, or origin,” not of first in a sequential order. This verse does not teach that Jesus was the first being created, but that He is the ruler, source, and origin of all creation – the Amen!
After Jesus establishes His authority He then goes on to tell this fully apostate, unfaithful church just what He thinks of them, and here’s where it gets ugly. For those who don’t really know the Lord Jesus this will seem quite out of character for Him. Many folks think Jesus was just some sort of mamby pamby, wimpy little man, cowering each time someone picked up a stone. That’s because they don’t know who Jesus Christ really is. I can make this promise to anyone who doesn’t know Jesus as Savior and Lord, you’ll never want to hear the Creator of the universe telling you, “I will spue thee out of my mouth”.
Many interpret incorrectly the references to hot, cold, and lukewarm spoken of by Jesus in verse 16 above. They assume the “hot” would reference an “on fire” attitude for the Lord, and they’d be correct, but then when we get to the “cold” this they attribute to being useless or dead. In this case they would be wrong. Lastly, we have “lukewarm”. What would be so bad about “lukewarm”? Well let’s take another look at it. “I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:16b. The Greek word for “spue” is “emeō” which actually means to vomit, vomit forth, or throw up. Jesus is speaking figuratively of His utter abhorrence of the condition of the church at Laodicea. Jesus uses the idiom lukewarm as He refers to the spiritual state of the Laodicean church, which afforded no refreshment to the Lord, such as is ministered naturally by either cold or hot water. When Jesus, being fully God, tells a church they are “lukewarm” He’s telling them they are good for nothing, absolutely useless, and deserve nothing more than condemnation.
Not a very endearing letter to the church by our Creator, yet according to the Apostle Paul this will be a prominent, albeit damning, quality of the Christian church of the last day’s just prior to Christ’s return. “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first” 2 Thessalonians 2:3a.” The word used in the Greek for falling away is “apostasia” and it signifies an apostasy from the faith, rebellion, and defection. “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 1 Timothy 4:1-2. Paul clearly spells out the look of the church in the “last days”. According to a recent study done by the Barna Research Group, this “Last Days” Laodicean church is more visible today than any other period in the history of the church.
Let’s take a break from the lashing the Laodiceans are receiving while we look at an admonishment to the Philippians by the Apostle Paul “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” Philippians 2:12. Paul calls the Philippians to put forth real effort into their Christians lives. This is not to work their salvation in the sense of accomplishing it, but to work out their salvation - to see it evident in every area of their lives, to activate this salvation God freely gave them. Here is where the Laodiceans fall flat, there is no evidence of salvation in that church, and as you will soon see there’s no evidence of our Lord Jesus Christ in this “Last Day’s” church either.
“Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing;” Revelation 3:17a. So they have everything and need nothing, not even Jesus. But in truth, the Laodicean church “…knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:” Revelation 3:17b. These folks who call themselves Christians have no idea they are the last days church. Jesus says they are actually wretched, and miserable. What He’s trying to tell them, in the plainest language possible, is that they are pitiful, deplorable, contemptible and pathetic to the point of pure disgracefulness. To vomit them out of His mouth reflects judgment. Since they will be judged they cannot possibly be born again, in Christ believers.
Those of us who are truly born again will not be judged. On the other hand, those who believe in and follow today’s false teachers who claim they know the truth but who are actually instruments of Satan, will one day be very sorry; they are the “Last Days” Laodiceans, and Jesus Christ says judgment is upon them.
“As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” Revelation 3:19. Jesus won’t give up on anyone; He’s still trying to turn these folks around. He rebukes and chastens those He loves, and He loves everyone. The Lord’s very next words are a solid rebuke to the church of the last days. “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20. Once again, and in no uncertain terms, Jesus tells the last days church that He’s not in the church, He’s not among them. They’ve booted Him out, yet even though He’s outside He continues to knock asking to be let back in. But He’s no longer addressing His Church, but individual lost souls. “…if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…” v20. Jesus is now addressing each person individually to accept Him before it’s too late.
A large number of folks making up the “last days” church will never have become born again. It will consist of a bunch of wretched, poor, lost, perishing souls. But “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne” Revelation 3:21a. So, the question begs to be asked. What are we? Overcomers or Laodiceans. Remember there is no in between area, no room for maneuvering for those who like to play the whole field, no grey area for those who make procrastination their life pursuit . Jesus said, “He that is not with me is against me…” Matthew 12:30.
Who are the Laodicean? They neither know Jesus as Lord and Savior nor do they need/want Him in their church. Whatever you decide to do with the rest of your life, be sure Jesus Christ is the most important part. Leave the church at Laodicea to the Laodiceans.
God bless you all,
Ron Graham
All scripture is from the KJV and God breathed
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Maranatha!
(Lord Come Quickly)
"On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand, All other ground is sinking sand."
"Let Us make the short time we have left count for all eternity!"
YBIC-Randy
